Mil Tech Trends

Wireless power, a new technology already poised to change the way we recharge everything from smart phones to electric vehicles, has the unique potential to transform war fighting of the future and alleviate the battlefield battery burden for both soldiers and manned and unmanned vehicles on land, in the air, and undersea. The U.S. military goals of digitizing dismounted soldiers, sensing their environment, and sharing information could require as much as twice the power as is required by warfighters today; the already burdensome tasks of carrying, operating, and maintaining multiple batteries, cords, and connectors will only be exacerbated unless dramatic changes in power management are implemented using highly resonant Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) systems.

Software-defined radio is no longer a military-only technology, as it has evolved beyond the now-defunct Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program, can be found in commercial and defense applications worldwide, and is essentially a solved problem. Meanwhile, a big remaining challenge is the finite amount of available spectrum. Dynamic spectrum management is needed to navigate what is left and cognitive radio is seen as the technology that will make that possible.

New technology offers engineers of Software Defined Radio (SDR) systems diverse opportunities to apply digital signal processing much closer to the antenna than ever before. Various strategies include the latest wideband data converters, monolithic receiver chips, compact RF tuners, and remote receiver modules using gigabit serial interfaces. Each approach presents benefits and tradeoffs that must be considered in choosing the optimal solution for a given application.

Embedded computing in the military is trending toward wearable, handheld, and other small and lightweight systems, as well as experiencing increased downward pressure on cost. These systems require rethinking the internals in order to achieve their goals of size, weight, and cost. As a result, the traditional architectures of card cages and stackable systems, which are ideal for quick time to market but carry additional bulk and cost, are giving way to the lighter and more efficient COTS-based COM + baseboard approach. In addition to benefits in size and weight, COM + baseboard systems offer significantly longer lifetimes, fewer problems during technology refresh cycles, and equivalent ruggedness and reliability, making them ideal for long-lasting military programs.

UAVs are not like the remote control stunt plane you unwrapped on your 10th birthday. In their different guises they can be found in civil airspace or flying as integral players in military missions. That makes unmanned systems’ safety and security very serious considerations. Accordingly, ISO 14508 and DO-178 could prove helpful in perpetuating safety and security for unmanned systems. Software tools that automate the processes required by these certification standards are easing the burden.

Radiation immunity and signal processing requirements are increasing for spacecraft and satellite electronic systems as designers look to add more capability for government and civilian applications. Meanwhile, the U.S. military and commercial markets for space electronics remain flat, thanks to the slow global economy and government budget cuts.

The network is becoming increasingly crucial to the world's armed forces. Unsurprisingly, it uses the same technologies that are proven in the commercial world, with much of the equipment sourced by the armed forces being of COTS origin. But the military needs a level of security - anti-tamper, information assurance, data destruction, encryption - way beyond what the commercial world requires. COTS solutions have emerged that leverage the innovations driving the commercial mobile data industry while addressing specific military security concerns such as encryption.

Cloud computing has demonstrated huge cost savings and operational efficiency benefits for the private sector and now Department of Defense (DoD) IT managers are exploring the concept for enterprise and tactical applications. However, DoD planners are moving much more cautiously to assure they have plugged all the potential cyber security vulnerabilities inherent in something as nebulous as a virtual cloud.